§ 12. Mr. Doddsasked the Minister of Labour what decision has been reached in respect of the medical fitness of Mr. Alan F. Kilfoyle.
§ Sir W. MoncktonFollowing his appeal against his original grading, Mr. Kilfoyle has, on a consultant's report, been placed in medical grade IV. He will accordingly not be called up for service.
§ Mr. DoddsIs not the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that but for my intervention this young man would have been in the forces, graded as grade I? In view of the many blunders that I have uncovered, will the right hon. and learned Gentleman tell me how many more cases I must reveal in the House before the matter is taken seriously?
§ Sic W. MoncktonThe answer to the hon. Gentleman is that this is a very good example of the working of the machinery of appeals which I introduced some years ago. What has happened is that this young man himself appealed. His original grade of I was largely on the report of his own doctor. When he appealed, a different view was taken by those who looked at him again, again having the advantage of more reports from the same partnership of doctors. The man was eventually sent to a consultant, and my chief medical officer had a look at the case in the end and thought that the second grading was right. It is a good thing that we introduced the appeals machinery.
§ Mr. DoddsOn a point of order. In view of the unsatisfactory Answer—[HON. MEMBERS: "Oh."]—which says that it was due to the Ministry of Labour, I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment, and give more details.